Social media giant Facebook is stepping up efforts to check clickbait headlines by modifying algorithms for its newsfeed.
The new system is aimed at eliminating misleading and exaggerated headlines similar to the way in how email spam filters work.
Facebook said in a blog post: “We are focusing more effort on this, and are updating News Feed by using a system that identifies phrases that are commonly used in clickbait headlines.”
The company said that users’ feedback show that they specifically want to see fewer stories with clickbait headlines or link titles.
It said: “These are headlines that intentionally leave out crucial information, or mislead people, forcing people to click to find out the answer.”
The networking site plans to tweak algorithms related to its news feed ranking to further reduce clickbait headlines in the coming weeks.
The company identifies headlines as clickbait if it “withholds information required to understand what the content of the article is” and “exaggerates the article to create misleading expectations for the reader.”
Explaining about the clickbait headlines, the blog said: “For example, the headline “You’ll Never Believe Who Tripped and Fell on the Red Carpet…” withholds information required to understand the article (What happened? Who Tripped?) The headline “Apples Are Actually Bad For You?!” misleads the reader (apples are only bad for you if you eat too many every day).”
The new system filters the headlines by identifying the phrases that are commonly used in clickbait headlines.
Facebook said: “Our system identifies posts that are clickbait and which web domains and Pages these posts come from. Links posted from or shared from Pages or domains that consistently post clickbait headlines will appear lower in News Feed.”
The company expects the move will not have a significant impact on the publishers’ distribution of articles in news feed.
But the websites and pages that depend on clickbait-style headlines are expected to see a decline in distribution on its news tool.
In June, Facebook said that it would assign higher priority to posts made by users' friends and family in their news feeds.
The company initiated the move in the wake of concerns raised by the site's members over their inability to find updates from their friends.
